Re: proper way to uninstall fonts?

Joe wrote:

A recent issue of "Smart Computing" magazine in an article "Speed up Your PC" suggests uninstalling some fonts. It says that Windows loads all fonts into memory.

I believe that either the article is in error or you're possibly misreading it. Windows XP only loads fonts as needed. HOWEVER - there are some applications, notably most of Adobe's (Photoshop, InDesign, Acrobat, etc.) that DO load all your installed fonts when they start, and it is a royal pain!

A font *index* is a very tiny piece of the system registry, which does get loaded into memory.

My fonts folder has hundreds of fonts. There seems to be 3 types as indicated by the icons. The icons show either a TT, an O or an A. I presume some are system fonts and shouldn't be deleted.

Hundreds of fonts are not a problem for XP or Vista. Thousands can begin to get awkard. There were finite limitations in earlier systems such as Windows 3.x and 9x/Me.

TT is Truetype, O can be either a Truetype-based Opentype font with a ..ttf extension or a font with an .otf extension. The upper-case "A" is a font used only for on-screen display. A lower-case "a" would be a Type 1 font.

So, assuming some are safe to delete (to be determined)- just delete them? Any potential negative effects?

Unwanted and unneeded fonts can be deleted. In general, unless you know exactly where they came from and can find that source, they should first be backed up or copied somewhere so you can retrieve them easily.

Are there any MS articles on the subject? Any advice?

A Font Manager such as Suitcase, Typograf, Printer's Apprentice, Font Reserve, and many others will allow you to dynamically install and uninstall defined groups of fonts as needed. For instance, if you have a group of fonts that you use to make greeting cards that are unneeded when you're composing the company annual report, and vice versa.

There are many lists of what fonts should not be deleted; NO TWO AGREE! And to those, you'd have to add fonts that are used in documents you create or read, and fonts that are needed by specific applications you've installed. For instance, Turbo Tax installs fonts needed to display and print tax forms, Corel Draw installs its standard default text font, etc.


This article was written for Windows 98. Its general approach is excellent, but the limitations and font list are obsolete:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/aboutgraphics/a/fontoverload_2.htm

This list is more current, and includes some that are not universally needed:
http://styopkin.com/articles/fonts_installed_winxp.html

One thing that no list that I've found includes is a statement that fonts that have the Hidden attribute should not be deleted. The most notable one of these is "Marlett", which contains the symbols used for such things as the up and down arrows in scroll-bars and the maximize/minimize/close buttons in a window!


Hope this helps

- Character



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